The shops passed, the streets glowed
The jam started and the traffic slowed
The greying air and the smile-less faces
A bus that went through 45 places
She’d got in at 3 and sat on her own
A nomad in her thoughts on her window-seat
throne
The people were a blur and the music up
loud
A glance or two to the filling crowd
The sleep took over, the tunes were a mash
The conductor asked 50 others for cash
A jolt in the bus thanks to the speed bump
below
She woke up disgruntled from her steel
window-bar pillow
The rush increased and they climbed in, in
bunches
She didn’t even have the smallest of
hunches
When the boy with the earphones got in from
the back
With glasses, and thoughts and a heavy
back-pack
He stared at the people who lined up ahead
From 6’3” all he saw were 51 other heads
None seemed to budge, and none seemed to
move
He’d gotten in at 25 and had to get off at
42
The music in his ears was playing only off
and on
In a BEST 339, the signal’s always gone.
So he wriggled to his pocket and put off
the FM
And for those 60-odd seconds he could now
hear them.
He heard the horns and he heard them talk
They cleared a little up front and a foot
ahead he walked
He started his mp3 and a smile appeared
As the junction passed and the signal
cleared
3 feet from her was where he stood
As far from the seated as he possibly could
At 39, they got off like they all lived
together
The ones in the bus could breathe a little
better
That’s where he found an empty seat
Next to curly hair and tapping feet
That moment she felt a change in the air
She opened her eyes and found him there
He looked for a stunned moment at her
And they looked away, like it didn’t really
matter
He stared single-mindedly, not moving an
inch
When the bus tilted and elbows touched, she
flinched
They didn’t hear the words playing in the
other’s head
They heard the conductor say 42 instead
He got up slowly and kept a straight face
Hers too, but a shivering smile you could
trace
At 42, he got off, not believing his luck
She on the other hand, knew that lightning
had struck
A feeling they hadn’t expected to turn up
for years
And the song played in two different sets
of ears
“There may be something there that wasn’t
there before”
And with a redder face, she got off at 44.
